The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

As the door of the thatched hut slowly opened, Lu Jing felt a strong sense of unwillingness and resentment, almost tangible, dimming even the sun overhead.

He subconsciously wanted to retreat, but in the blink of an eye, that resentment surged out of the house, engulfing him without explanation.

The next moment, Lu Jing heard dozens of voices in his ears, male and female, old and young, repeating together, "Cultivation, realm, I want to improve my realm! I want to become stronger!"

Lu Jing was horrified by this bizarre scene.

This is too much! A door ambush right after the cutscene!

The thatched hut in the distance became blurred, and at that moment, all he could see were ghostly figures filling the sky!

Lu Jing used his last strength to turn around and run, but found that his legs wouldn't move.

Crap, have the ghost's attacks already started taking effect?

Lu Jing felt despair. He sadly realized that the only thing he could do now was close his eyes and wait for death.

As it turned out, Lu Jing waited for about half an incense stick's worth of time.

Death did not arrive as expected.

On the contrary, he found that the voices in his ears seemed to be getting quieter.

So Lu Jing opened his eyes a crack and secretly observed his surroundings, discovering that the resentment surrounding him disappeared like water droplets on a red-hot iron when it touched his body.

By now, the resentment around him had faded a lot, and his body didn't seem to be experiencing any abnormalities.

In fact, Lu Jing had also noticed that his legs couldn't move earlier purely because he was too scared at the time.

His consciousness temporarily lost control of his body due to extreme fear.

In layman's terms, he scared himself.

However, Lu Jing couldn't be blamed for this. The special effects were just too overwhelming, and anyone standing here would probably be scared.

Lu Jing didn't expect that this world-destroying move wouldn't even scratch him.

After confirming that his body was indeed fine, Lu Jing simply found a rock nearby, sat down, and watched the resentment around him become thinner and thinner until it disappeared completely.

The ghostly faces in the resentment gradually changed from ferocious and bloodthirsty to ordinary people's appearances, and finally even nodded at Lu Jing, as if thanking him.

When the surroundings returned to normal, another person walked out of the thatched hut.

Although Lu Jing had never really seen the person's face before, he recognized him at a glance. This was the "himself" from the cutscene.

The young man who left home, became apprenticed to learn martial arts, mastered martial arts, but lost his parents, wife, and children, personally killed his best friend, and ultimately ended up alone, yet still failed to decipher the last sentence on the secret manual, and died vomiting blood.

At this point, Lu Jing had understood many things.

He raised his head and said to the person in front of him, "Are you the first owner of that secret manual?"

The man walked up to Lu Jing and, imitating him, sat cross-legged on the open space opposite him, nodding and saying, "That's right. I always remembered my master's teachings, focusing wholeheartedly on martial arts, not daring to slack off in the slightest, but I never thought… I would end up in such a state."

"It's quite tragic," Lu Jing said with a sigh, recalling the scenes from the cutscene.

The man smiled bitterly, "I came from humble origins, and I relied on competition to stand out. But this competition also ruined me. To compete, I couldn't be filial to my father at his bedside. By the time I returned home in glory, my father couldn't see my achievements. I brought my mother to my side, intending to let her enjoy life, but instead, I harmed her, and my wife and children…"

"I am sorry for my wife. After the marriage, I neglected her because of practicing martial arts. I didn't listen to her warnings and left home resolutely. In those seven years outside the Great Wall, I often recalled the time when we first got together, remembering her goodness. I wanted to make up for it after returning home, but I never had the chance."

"As for my son… I'm not worthy to be his father at all. So I am a person who is unfaithful, unfilial, and unfit to be a father. Even in death, I became obsessed with this competition and harmed the lives of many people with a remnant of my soul."

Speaking of this, the man suddenly stood up and bowed solemnly to Lu Jing, "Thank you, benefactor, for helping us escape from the sea of suffering. If I hadn't met you, I'm afraid this remnant of my soul would have continued to be stubborn, thinking that everyone in the martial world was like me, only knowing how to compete, and I don't know how much more trouble I would have caused."

"Don't mention it, don't mention it," Lu Jing said, quickly standing up and waving his hand. "Hey, what are you saying… I actually just took advantage of a trick."

"A trick?" A trace of confusion flashed in the man's eyes, but he quickly understood. "Hahaha, it's come to this, why should I compete for victory or defeat? A trick is a trick. If you can make this remnant of my soul no longer obsessed and restore clarity, then you are my benefactor."

The man paused, then continued, "Now that my obsession has dissipated, it won't be long before I return to the heavens and earth. There's still some time left. Benefactor, you can ask whatever you want."

"Really?" Lu Jing realized this was a good opportunity, thought for a moment, and first asked, "Is this… a Xianxia world?"

"Xianxia?" The man seemed to not quite understand the meaning of the word, but soon he seemed to remember that Lu Jing had asked him if he was a cultivator in the Gonglou before, so he said.

"I don't know if there are immortals or spirits in this world. I myself am just a remnant of a soul, attached to that secret manual. As long as the person who opens the secret manual has a desire to improve their realm, I will amplify that desire and gradually control their minds. After I kill them, I will look for the next host."

"You mentioned spells before, how did you get them?"

"Oh, spells. After I possessed that secret manual, I obtained a spell that could make the host feel that their martial arts had greatly improved after practicing the secret manual. As long as they didn't really fight with others, others would also think that their martial arts had greatly improved. And after I killed the tenth person, another spell appeared in my mind."

"This time, the spell is even more powerful. You saw it in the restaurant before. I can transform a book with no words into that secret manual, so that I can arouse the desire to improve cultivation in many people's hearts at once. Everyone sees different things from that book, but without exception, they are the most powerful divine skills in their hearts. In addition, I can also transform those blank books into any existing martial arts classics in the world, but those are not real."

Speaking of this, he sighed again, "But because this spell is too powerful, I thought I would only sink deeper and deeper. Fortunately, I met you, benefactor. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would have been difficult for me to believe that there could really be someone in this world who could face a readily available divine skill and treasure without being moved at all. This may already… be called a saint."